The Asylum
by Descending Rival
Summary: What if Rose and the Tenth Doctor had met Oswin in the Asylum instead of the Eleventh Doctor?


**Hi guys. So I haven't updated my Loki fic in forever yes I'm sorry. Writers block sucks, and to get off of it, I wrote this.**

**It's basically a character exploration for myself that I turned into a story. How would Rose and Ten act differently than Eleven did? Happens some time before Doomsday but after The Parting of Ways. Jack is magically there, possibly transported there by the Daleks.**

**Doctor Who doesn't belong to me, but enjoy :)**

Rose Tyler pulled her jacket tighter around her arms as she observed her surroundings: things were not looking good. The walls seemed covered in dirt, everything bathed in a dull brown. The Asylum of the Daleks, they called it. Dangerous as it was, the layer of dust settled on everything suggested little use, or at least little care.

The Doctor leaned against the wall, brown hair sticking up all strange, trench coat wrapping around his feet. He offered her a quick, quirky smile before leaning back towards the little piece of Dalek technology attached to the wall.

"Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?" A girls voice asked, from a speaker of some sort.

"The Doctor. You can call me the Doctor." He replied, grinning. Rose felt a small pinch of jealousy. Was he flirting with her, this girl? But she pushed the feeling away. After all, she liked Oswin so far. Not many could hand out sass like that to the Doctor.

Plus, there was a bigger issue at hand. Multiple, actually. They were stuck on a planet filled to the brim with Daleks, with only a vague goal to guide them. Turn off the force field. Easier said than done, but hopefully the Doctor had a plan.

And now there was this Oswin girl. Rose felt bad for her, stuck all alone for a year on a world full of Daleks. She knew they would never leave without trying to save her. It was this thing with the Doctor. He saved people, or tried to, no matter what the cost. And sometimes that cost was big, endangering their lives, but Rose wouldn't want it any other way.

"Are you two together then?" The voice quipped, pulling the companion back into the conversation. She looked up, stepping towards the camera.

"Well…" The Doctor started, giving a little shrug. The two shared a look. Were they together? No, not really. Not at all. But Rose still considered him her Doctor. And every now and then, she wondered if she was his Rose, too.

"So he's off limits? That's too bad." Oswin replied, obviously smirking from the other side of the camera. "I was starting to like you, space boy." The Time Lord's eyebrow shot up as he realized what she was suggesting.

"No, we're not-"

"Not at all." Rose chimed in, shifting on her feet.

"What about your friend then? He off limits too?" Oswin asked, teasing tone still dancing over the speaker.

"Who, Jack?" The Doctor grinned. When the Dalek's kidnapped them, they brought Jack along too. "Flirting with you already, is he?" Rose let out a fit of laughter.

"He's not off limits to anyone, trust me." She laughed.

"Can you see him then?" The Time Lord asked, expression shifting to serious again.

"Just did. I'm about to save his life." She replied. "Later space boy."

* * *

Rose pressed herself against the stone wall, away from the Dalek approaching her. It's silver gun twitched as it attempted to shoot, the scope moving from her face to the Doctor's in confusion.

"It doesn't have enough power yet." He grinned, and she smiled back as he leapt past the creature. "Run!" They dashed along the corridor, leaving a confused tin kettle behind them.

The Daleks were everywhere, waiting around every corner, leaving the pair dashing from room to room, hall to hall.

Rose stopped and put her hands on her knees, sweat wetting her forehead.

"Doctor!" She huffed, raising a hand to call him over. He spun on his feet, switching directions and walking towards her, eyebrows twisting in confusion.

"Yup?" He quipped. "Do you need a break?"

"No, it's Oswin. She-"

"Hello again." Came Oswin's voice through the speaker. "Thought I'd let you know, I've got your friend to a safe place." The blonde exchanged a look with the Time Lord. Jack couldn't die, they knew that, but his situation would be a difficult one to explain.

"Thank you." The Doctor replied sincerely. "Can you tell us where he is?"

"Mhm." She agreed. "You're pretty close now. Take a right three doors down and keep going strait until you get to large gray door. Jack-y's in there." She quipped.

"Jackie is my _mum_." Rose pointed out, holding back a laugh.

"And we better hope she's not in there waiting for us." The Doctor added. "Only thing worse than a planet full of Daleks." Rose gave him a friendly shove and he grinned.

"I needed a nickname for him." They could hear the shrug in Oswin's voice. "Now get a move on."

"Yeah, that might be a problem" Rose bit her lip as she looked around the corner. The Doctor joined her, eyebrows shooting up at what he saw. A large open room, filled with the aliens in various stages of decay.

"It's okay. Most of them are hibernating. Just try not to wake them and you'll be fine."

"Oh, just don't wake them." The Doctor murmured sarcastically. "Too bad I didn't think of that."

They stepped quietly around the corner, moving towards an open room with a high ceiling. The machine-like creatures left little space to walk through, but Oswin was right: they were covered in a layer of dust. They hadn't moved in years.

Even so, Rose could hear her heart thumping as they made their way across the floor. Oswin's voice had gone quiet, and the world seemed to slip into slow motion.

Then suddenly, it sped up again, jerking the pair back to reality. It was such a small thing, but with one wrong step, Rose's foot slipped, a spherical metal piece of a Dalek slinging her forward. With a thump, the felt her hands catch on cold dusty metal: a Dalek.

Rose backed away slowly as the Doctor moved silently to her side. Blue light flickered on in the creature's scope.

"Ex…" Rose backed up further, and the blue light followed her movements with sloppy precision.

"Ex…term…in…ate." The metallic voice cracked. And then faster, as the creatures around her began to wake up. "Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate!" Before she knew it, the screeches of a hundred Daleks echoed through the room.

And of course, the Doctor and Rose did what they did best. They ran.

Not bothering with caution anymore, the Doctor pushed through the waking Daleks, Rose at his side. Flashes of light started appearing as their guns warmed up, leaving streaks of blue blurring his vision. At last he jumped around the corner to safety, immediately poking his head out to check on his companion.

His companion, who was now lying on the floor, motionless despite the uproar. Rage shot through his head, rage reserved only for the Daleks, and those who hurt the people he cared about.

The Doctor dashed back into the confused mess of Daleks, scooping Rose up and puller her close to him. Reaching safety, he pressed his thumb to her wrist. A pulse. She was still alive. The Time Lord sighed audibly in relief, hugging her limp form.

"Must have just stunned her." Oswin's voice spoke again. "They're following you Doctor. You might want to hurry up." He looked up to where he heard metallic voices growing louder.

"Right. Where to?"

"Just ahead. Opening the door…. Now." The gray stone creaked as it moved up, revealing an open door. "In!"

He slipped through the door, into an open room. A circular shape filled the center, a teleport. And on that teleport, a man.

"Doctor." Jack said, worry creeping into his voice as he saw Rose.

"She's fine." He replied. "She's fine."

* * *

Rose's eyes flickered open, her vision blurred as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. The Daleks. They shot her; shouldn't she be dead? If this was death, it was a cruel joke.

Jack's face appeared above her as she rubbed her head and sat up.

"Hello there sunshine." He grinned and helped her to her feet. "They stunned you. You should be fine."

"Where's the Doctor?"

"Getting Oswin." He replied. "He'll be back in a bit, and we'll be out of here."

"You let him go alone?"

"Someone had to stay and watch you." She shook her head.

"I have to go after him." She stated, and pointed to a monitor on the wall, where a blinking red dot marked Oswin's location. "He's there, right?"

"Rose. He'll be fine."

"I'll be back soon." She said, and was running out the door before the captain could stop her.

* * *

"Does it look real to you?" The Doctor asked solemnly, his lanky figure standing in the doorway to Oswin's room. A sting of fear, denial struck her heart, but she pushed it away.

"Does what look real?" The words sounded a bit too fast coming out of her mouth.

"Where you are right now." He repeated, his eyes looking at her with pity, and a subtle emptiness. "Does it seem real to you?" Pity. Why pity? Her breathing quickened.

"It _is_ real." Too quick again. She felt like something was cracking. Some fabric of reality tearing.

"It's a dream Oswin. You dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible." And reality shattered.

"Where am I? Where am I?" The metallic voice screeched at the Doctor. For a moment he closed his eyes.

"Because you are a Dalek." He said softly. His words weren't angry. They were sad, and just the tiniest bit helpless.

"I am not a Dalek! I am Dalek! I am human!" The voice burned his ears.

"Oswin, I am so _so_ sorry." He stepped closer to the creature, putting a hand on the metal shell, eyes empty. "But you are a Dalek." The words were firmer this time. Less sympathetic. How much sympathy could he feel for a Dalek, even one that thought it was human? It would be so much easier if she didn't.

"The milk." He said softly, unsure whether to break her reality or save. "The milk and eggs, where did they come from?"

"Eggs…"

"Doctor?" Rose's voice came from behind him, slipping from confusion to worry as she saw the Dalek- Oswin- in the blank room. He turned to face her.

"Eggs…"

"Rose!" He put his hands on her arms. "What are you doing?"

"Eggs…Term…In…Ate." Both their heads shot over to the Dalek.

"What?" The Doctor said. Fear shot through Rose as she turned around to a closed white door.

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" Oswin broke free of her chains, advancing on the pair.

"Doctor!" Rose cried.

"Oswin! Oswin no!" He put his hands out in from of him, as if to halt the oncoming Dalek.

"Oswin? Doctor, what do you mean Oswin?"

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Extermi…" The voice trailed off, turning into what was almost, just maybe, a sob.

"Oswin?" Rose asked quietly. "You're a…?" She put a hand on the silver shell.

"They converted her. Fully converted her." The Doctor said. "She was human when she crashed. But now…"

"I am human." She cracked. The sound was so broken, so Dalek and so human at the same time.

"I know. I know you're human." Rose answered quietly. The Doctor remembered for a moment, the first time his companion had seen a Dalek. She showed kindness. She said she wasn't afraid. And in return, she received mercy.

"Human." The Dalek repeated in a cracked voice. Rose felt her eyes watering.

"It's okay. The Doctor will save you." She said. "That's what he does. He saves people." The scope moved back and forth between their faces.

"I save _people_, Rose." The Time Lord said quietly. She looked at him. Pity. Regret.

"You save everybody!" She bit back.

"Not Daleks. Not after all they've done." Sadness, but stubbornness. He had made his decision. In all honesty, there had been no decision to make.

"She's not 'Daleks', Doctor. She's one Dalek. One human Dalek." She shook her head. "You remember the last human Dalek? The one that thought it was the last?"

"Rose-"

"It was kind, the Dalek that became human." She continued. "Wouldn't a human that became Dalek be even kinder?" Oswin just watched, silent, her scope following the flow of conversation.

"You don't know how much _hate_ fills their very being." The Time Lord said, words harsher. "And you killed thousands of them, _millions_. I saw you."

"She's not like them. She's human."

"She was a second away from killing us a moment ago." He growled. "I can't bring her on the TARDIS. I can't risk out lives."

"Yeah, and what if it were me?" Rose cried, facing the Doctor. He opened his mouth but said nothing.

"What if they found me, and made me a Dalek?" She asked. The Doctor closed him mouth.

"Rose." He said softly. "We can't."

"Would you leave me here to die then?" There was a long moment of silence that seemed to last forever. Then the Doctor turned towards the Dalek, who still silently watched.

"Do you want to come with me, Oswin Oswald?" He asked quietly.

"So you can look at me with all that hate?" She asked, ask quiet as a Dalek could manage.

"No." He actually smiled. "So you can finally see the stars."

**I might continue this. We'll see. Please read and review :D**


End file.
